The present invention relates to a method of producing devices for blood purification.
It is known that in order to purify the blood, for example for patients having kidney problems, or for patients who have been infected and are endangered by sepsis, blood is withdrawn from a patient and then purified by passing through a purifying material, such as for example an adsorbing polymer, and then the blood from which toxins are removed completely or at least partially is introduced again into the patient. For this blood purification, corresponding blood purification devices are utilized, which are formed usually as containers or cartridges filled with the adsorbing polymer, for example a polymer composed of porous beads with pores selected so as to remove toxins from blood. These known devices are made by first forming a container, and then introducing the beaded adsorbing polymeric material into them. In accordance with the existing practice, a container is first filled with a liquid and then beads are introduced through the inlet of the container into the liquid. It has been found that such a method does not provide a uniform distribution and dense packing of the beads inside the container and filling the container cannot be performed with a high speed.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide method of producing devices for blood purification, which avoids the disadvantages of the prior art.
In keeping with these objects and with others which will become apparent hereinafter, one feature of present invention resides, briefly stated, in a method of producing devices for blood purification, in accordance with which a container for accommodating a beaded adsorbent polymeric material is provided, a mixture of a beaded polymeric material with a liquid is formed (a slurry), and then the thusly formed mixture of the beaded polymeric material with the liquid is introduced under pressure into the container so that the beads of the polymeric material are densely packed in the interior of the container while the liquid of the mixture leaves through an outlet of the container.
When the method is performed in accordance with the present invention, the container is filled with the beaded polymeric material very fast, preferably in an easily automated manner, and at the same time homogenous and dense packing of the beaded polymeric material inside the container is provided.
The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the present invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.